Abstract
This paper explores organisations’ rationale for using professional contractors or
professional contingent workers (PCW) sourced from temporary work agencies
(TWA) across three knowledge-based industries in New Zealand. By
understanding the motivations for employers’ use, the nature of use, the extent,
and the benefits, it sheds light on an important question: Are professional agency
workers used by employers to complement, or to substitute, core workers? To
answer this question, we examine whether contractors are used as short term
buffers in a reactive or adhoc manner, or strategically in a planned manner,
either for short or long term needs. The overall literature on contingent work,
particularly temporary agency work has been growing; however the academic
literatures on professional contingent work generally and professional contingent
workers from temporary agencies is very scarce. Findings from studies of lowerskilled agency workers or contingent workers in general should not be
generalised to this group, so this study aims to fill this gap in knowledge. It will
show that professional contingent workers through agencies are not simply used
as complements or indeed substitutes to core workers, but may represent an
increasingly important source of knowledge and thus competitive advantage to
the organisations/industries that use them.
Presenters
Krish Naidu (NMIT)
Danae Anderson (AUT)